play / real money

I have been playing play money at bodog with some success, but seem to loose all the cash i win in the freerolls. Play is just as loose and seem to always get a bad beat, well i guess i have gave a few of those also. Any suggestions on how to UP my game. I play pretty tight for bodog lol.

Play money and real money are completley different, the only reason i belive anyone should play play money is to learn the rules not strategy. You should start by playing low limits read some articles on this site then maybe buy a book.

Play tight, play aggressive, try not to pay off the micro players when they chase and suck out, and don't play with scared money.


That last part is hard to do with freeroll winnings as you don't have enough bankroll. It might be easier playing SnGs rather than cash games as once you're bought in, you don't have to worry about losing more of your bank.

Thanks for the help guys

At the higher level buyins for play money the play is significantly better and I would say equal to cash games depending on the site. Full Tilt games are one in point.

Really?
Why would people wast thier time playing play money though?

When I first started for some reason I liked stars. I played the play money thing for quite awhile and accumulated around 6 mill in chips. I gave about 2 mill away to friends I convinced to start on-line so they could get their feet wet.

Then some genius started buying them so I sold 2 mill for $22. Easy way to make cash. You will not get better at poker but it is a way to at least try to start a bankroll if depositing is not an option. I think FT has a way to convert some play money to real money to help start a bankroll.

Havent tried play money, but Bodog seems a "soft" target. I havent deposited there yet, but have won - and lost - about 300$ there in the last months. registered there because of the CC freeroll and really liked the software, so started at their daily 500$ freerolls. Won it once and have had a few FT's (last night FT out of 3400 people).

As for advice, dj11 once submitted a real gem: MTT's are primarily about survival. Keep that in mind and only go for steals and bluff's when you are comfortable about the profile of the particular table you are at. A surefire way to get sucked out is trying fancy moves at a table you dont know. Sometimes you'll get sucked out anyway, but as a risk handling tool, knowledge of table and players is king.

Oh - and to get back to dj11's brillant advice for a second: Using that strategy you will begin to get better results. As a winning strategy it needs to be complemented with late game play, bubble strats, blocking bets in second half of the game etc. But you will first and foremost get better results and that will teach you alot in it itself.

Ok, enough praise for dj11. crancko signing off!

See this is where I disagree. Most people at these higher levels know that the chips can be converted. Because of this they are not going to donk away their chips. So your play is better. Try sitting at the 100,000 play level and see how the play is. Yes you do get an occcasional player who doesn't know this. And that's how you get to your large stack to sell.

Hmmmm, i might try to build up a play money BR.

EGAD !! I have a fan ????? LOL. Thank You for the acknowledgment.

Many of you know I am challenging for the title of FREE ROLL WHORE OF THE YEAR. For the last few months I have mainly played the FullTilt ME giveaways, and damn did I come close Saturday. Now those are over. It will be seeking freerolls, and play money for me till next WSOP season.

BBB has this correct. The play at higher limit play money is not the joke many here want to believe it is. It is generally in the range of late stage MTT freerolls. BBB knows much more about the play in cash games than I do and her saying there are equivalences is good to hear. Those who built their Play Money bankrolls from scratch, like I did, probably have a few things going;

1 Pride. It aint easy getting past the lower level donkeythons.
2 Hope. At a certain level one starts hearing about the possibility of converting to cash, or getting into real money promo's using play money. I am not quite there yet, seems this may happen at 1/2 million chips, or maybe a million.

Those who buy play money chips are less concerned about the value of those chips, and probably represent the donks in cash games at any level. They must know some better reason to accumulate play money. I'd love to know why they do it.

What I really would love for all to acknowledge is that there are lots of poker players who realize they are not good, are trying to get better, yet still maintain the fantasy of winning the big one. Some have the very sound fear of getting eaten by sharks, and they realize that. Disposable income is low or nil, and they know that. They find the play money games and nirvana all in one single mouse click.

I have taken to consider myself of late to be a Poker Sportsman.

<P>Thanks guys!&nbsp;&nbsp;I have about 3.5 million in play chips now been as high as 6 million and as low as beggin at daddy bodogs door for a new 1000.&nbsp;&nbsp;I have won some small change&nbsp; on Freerolls but cant seem to turn it into real cash yet as i play with a &nbsp;no deposit rule from the wife and 3 daughters. Been playin since September last year and I will take the advice to read a book . Any suggestions?</P>

ignore the odd keystrokes dont know what happened there

Many fine articles on this site that will help you very much. Good Luck.